Category Archives: Bay Area Commercial Real Estate

Adaptive re-use has become a key component of the commercial real estate world, especially in development-constrained cities like San Francisco where raw land is hard to find, and often prohibitively expensive. But, it takes a certain vision to see beyond the current state or role of a building to what it might become.

1986. The American president was an actor/tv star-turned-politician and the U.S. media was busy chasing a story that would embroil the White House in congressional hearings and scandal (Iran-Contra). Meanwhile, in San Francisco, voters were adopting Proposition M, the first legislation anywhere in the country to limit high-rise office development on an annual basis.

2017. The American president is a reality TV star/businessman-turned-politician… Read More

“The brain is a wonderful organ; it starts working the moment you get up in the morning and does not stop until you get into the office.” – Robert Frost

Poet Robert Frost might have changed his opinion of the office if he had been writing those words today in Silicon Valley, San Francisco or Seattle. Tech-dominated markets in the Pacific Northwest have some of… Read More

First quarter stats show that more office and industrial tenants are looking to the North Bay counties of Marin, Sonoma, Napa and Solano for space options.

Substantial residential construction now underway in the region’s housing markets is one factor supporting this trend. In Sonoma County, more than 900 apartment units are currently under construction with several projects in the planning stages. Low unemployment… Read More

The Lorax would be happy in San Francisco. Amid the concrete canyons and the bustle of downtown and the homes and shops of the city’s neighborhoods, there are more than 220 public parks and open spaces. Curbed has mapped 46 of the best.

New Growth

Perhaps soon to be added to that list, San Francisco’s latest park is taking shape seventy feet above Folsom Street… Read More

A clear trend is developing in the market for office space in the Bay Area: landlords are asking more tenants for higher deposits. Deposits are highest for younger, venture-backed companies without much operating history or clear path to profitability.

The Raiders are leaving Oakland…again. This time they are headed to Las Vegas, where, we’re told, a $1.9 billion domed stadium will be built in the desert, or not far from it.

One of the reasons the Raiders wanted to leave the Oakland-Alameda County Coliseum, we’re also told, is because their rent “at the office” skyrocketed last year from $925,000 to $3.5 million. To be… Read More

How much would you pay to own a house within a short walk of your local train station, or bus stop? Anecdotal evidence, as well as data from residential listing services, suggests most buyers are willing to pay a premium.

Annual e-commerce sales reached almost $2 trillion worldwide in 2016 and could reach $4 trillion in 2020 if double digit growth projections through the rest of the decade are accurate. Currently accounting for almost 9 percent of total retail spending worldwide, that share could top 15 percent if 2020 projects prove accurate.